Nuveen LLC Trims Stake in Monster Beverage Corporation $MNST

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC cut its Monster Beverage stake by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 414,549 shares and leaving it with 8.75 million shares valued at about $670.6 million.
• Monster Beverage’s recent earnings beat expectations, reporting $0.58 EPS on revenue of $2.32 billion, both above analyst forecasts and up 22.6% from a year earlier.
• The company approved a $500 million share buyback, while analysts remain broadly positive with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average target price of $89.05.

Nuveen LLC reduced its position in shares of Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST - Free Report) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,746,773 shares of the company's stock after selling 414,549 shares during the quarter. Nuveen LLC owned about 0.90% of Monster Beverage worth $670,615,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 637,066 shares of the company's stock valued at $48,844,000 after acquiring an additional 21,169 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 7.8% during the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,605,873 shares of the company's stock valued at $122,303,000 after acquiring an additional 116,510 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 880,061 shares of the company's stock valued at $67,738,000 after acquiring an additional 95,606 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 67,483,584 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,542,320,000 after acquiring an additional 2,122,685 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ boosted its position in Monster Beverage by 19.2% during the 3rd quarter. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ now owns 357,025 shares of the company's stock valued at $24,031,000 after acquiring an additional 57,389 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.36% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Monster Beverage news, insider Emelie Tirre sold 10,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.74, for a total transaction of $857,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 71,763 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,152,959.62. The trade was a 12.23% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Thomas J. Kelly sold 7,000 shares of Monster Beverage stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.81, for a total value of $614,670.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 62,553 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,492,778.93. This represents a 10.06% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,700 shares of company stock valued at $13,730,462. 8.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Monster Beverage Price Performance

Monster Beverage stock opened at $92.03 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 44.46, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.54. Monster Beverage Corporation has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $92.46. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.16.

Monster Beverage (NASDAQ:MNST - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 8th. The company reported $0.58 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.05. Monster Beverage had a return on equity of 26.86% and a net margin of 23.11%.The firm had revenue of $2.32 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $2.16 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 22.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Monster Beverage Corporation will post 2.31 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Monster Beverage announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Friday, May 15th that permits the company to buyback $500.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the company to reacquire up to 0.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their target price on Monster Beverage from $88.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on Monster Beverage from $92.00 to $90.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 23rd. Evercore raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Monster Beverage from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised Monster Beverage from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Fourteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Monster Beverage currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $89.05.

About Monster Beverage

Monster Beverage Corporation NASDAQ: MNST is an American beverage company best known for its Monster Energy brand of energy drinks. The company's product portfolio centers on carbonated energy beverages and a range of complementary ready-to-drink offerings, including energy coffees, hydration beverages and other flavored functional drinks. Monster markets multiple sub-brands and flavor variants to address different consumer segments and consumption occasions.

Originally organized around the Hansen's Natural line of juices and sodas, the company pivoted toward the energy drink category and formally adopted the Monster Beverage name in the early 2010s to reflect its strategic focus.

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